Improvement in bucket-ears



` A. SPER'RY.

' Bucket-Ears. No.155,048; Y Bare ntedsept.i5,1a74.

Attorneys WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AURELIUS SPERRY, OF TREMONT, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUCKET-EARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,048, dated September 15, 1.7874; application tiled July 25, i814.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AURELIUs SPERRY, of Tremont, in the county of Tazewell and State of Illinois, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Bail-Ears; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion ofthe construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a part of this speciflcation, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figurel of the drawing is a representation of a sideview of my pail-ear. Fig. 2 is a bottom view, and Fig. 3 is a view of my pail-ear as applied. 1

This invention has relation to wire stapleears for pails or buckets, wherein the eye is formed-at one of the angles of the staple.

The nature of the invention consists in a staple-ear composed of a single piece of wire,

having an eye formed on one of its angles to receive the bail-hook in such a manner that the prongs shall be below the eye-bearing angle of the staple, in the same plane the one with the other, and the upper prong so far below the point of junction of the walls forming the eye, that a setting-tool can be conveniently applied to the back of the staple for the purpose of driving home int-o the stave of a pail or bucket the two prongs, without flattening or otherwise impairing the usefulness of the said eye, all as'will be hereinaftermore fully explained.

In the annexed drawings, A designates my improved bucketear, made by bending one end of a straight wire at right angles to its length, to form the lower prong a, then bending it over at a suitable distance from the said prong to form an eye, B, a perfectly straight portion, i, being left between the said eye and the prong a, which is the back of the staple. That portion of the wire forming the inner Wall of the eye is then extended along the'in- 11er surface of the back 'i of the staple a certain distance downward, when it is bent at right angles to the said back in the same vertical plane with the prong a, to form the upper prong a', as shown in Fig. 1.

It will be seen from the above description, reference being had to the drawings, that the back t and prongs a a', form an ordinary staple, the rectangular heel of the prong a resting against the back thereof, below the eye B, which is by this construction provided with a neck, and is raised above the prong a', permitting a setting-tool to be used for the purpose of driving home the said prongs without` touching the said eye, thev said setting-tool being placed upon the back t' of the staple.

In all other wire bucket-ears which have come under my observation, the upper prong is situated exactly at the point of junction of the walls of the eye, leaving no other alternative but to place one end of the setting-tool upon the eye, and the other upon the lower prong of the staple, when it is desired to drive the prongs simultaneously home, and when they are driven home the eye has always been battered and attened, and left in a state utterly precluding the possibility of inserting the bail-hook.

In my invention the setting-tool does not even touch the eye, and hence when the prongs are driven home into a stave of a pail, it remains in a. perfect state for receiving'the' hooked end of a bucket-bail, and no further trouble is needed to render it effective. They are then clinched upon the inside of a stave, C, securing the ear rigidly to the bucket.

I am well aware that a wire bucket-ear hav# ing its eye above the upper prong of the staple, the neck being formed by twisting the wire of which the upper prong is formed around the staple back, is not new; hence I make no broad claim to such invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As a new article of manufacture the wire bucket-ear, having the heel of the upper prong a of the staple, below the neck of the eye B, and seated upon the shank back 11 of the staple, the upper prong a and the lower prong a being in the same plane as specified, and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony. that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

AURELIUS SPERRY. Witnesses WILBUR F. HENRY, VU

GEO. B. FosTER. j v y 

